Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

It isn’t easy reading the news. It isn’t easy to sit down at a table with a mixed group of people. It isn’t easy to share things on social media. The reason? Because politics seasons all of these. And sometimes, the seasoning is off putting. Have you ever put salt in a dish when sugar was called for? That is how some conversations go these days. I think it is time to make some declarations about my politics. One, so others can judge me by my own position. Two, so I can look back on this and see development and change. Three, just so I can get a few things off my chest. I don’t affiliate with a single political party or platform. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree within their own party on what they think is important. The two party system has limited the true freedom of expression and a realistic representation of all people in this nation. We are convinced that these two parties are the only “real” way government can be run. Strangely, the two we have are not the two we ha...

Working through the sermon for this week, I ran into a question that really needs to be processed in the larger arena of a church. Who is responsible for a disciple's spiritual "feeding"? The impetus for this thought really grows out of the complaint I have heard too often: I am just not being "fed" at this church/by this pastor? I have my suspicions on what is meant by this. It isn't a reference to potluck dinners, either. It has to do with the subjective sense of having desires or expectations met. When the desires or expectations are not being met, it would seem to make emotional sense to seek those desires or expectations out somewhere else. There are two questions that need to be asked, and a really hard illustration to prove this wrong. First the questions we need to ask: Is the church not fulfilling its purpose to help one another grow and mature? Is the person participating fully in the effort to become mature and to grow? The answers to t...

One week ago, I got some strong affirmations for a sermon I preached on Christians and Protest. In that sermon, I stressed that there are times when Christians need to raise their voice in protest against or for certain subjects. There were very strong affirmations about that sermon. Stronger than I typically receive. It was nice. It also told me that it was a likeable sermon. Yesterday I preached an unlikeable sermon. I decided to narrow in on one subject that the Bible consistency tells the people of God they should be attentive of. It is a subject that God protests about. It is a subject that is highlighted in the commandments and statutes of the Covenant. It is a subject that the prophets hold the people of God accountable for. It is something Jesus refers to in his ministry. It is something that the letter writing apostles bring to the attention of Christians. The subject that God protests and expects Christians to protest about is how the poor are treated. Due to an elect...

In preparation for the upcoming sermon series I was reading Basil Pennington's Centering Prayer . At the end of chapter one, Pennington quotes Revelation 3: 14-21. For those who aren't familiar, that is the letter to the church of Laodicea. It is also home to two enduring images of scripture: being vomited out of God's mouth and Jesus standing at the door knocking. Pennington uses the expression of this passage to discuss the intimacy of prayer. I am not going to quote the entirety of the passage from this book. But I do want to hit upon its most powerful messages and apply them for myself. Maybe you, dear one reading this, will gain something also. The letter begins with ascription of Christ's preeminence. The Amen (the truth of all that is), the Faithful and True Witness, and the ruler of God's creation. That verse puts Christ as the substance of it all, the medium of understanding it all, and the ruler of it all. Creation and life, hope and joy, grace and mer...

A few days ago, in the midst of a contentious Presidential election year, candidate Donald Trump decided to voice opinion about comments that were made by Pope Francis. The Pope commented on Trump's campaign promise to build a wall to slow the movement of illegal/undocumented persons into the United States through the Mexico/U.S. border. In the course of those comments, the Pope stated that anyone who builds walls instead of bridges is not a Christian. Trump fired back at the Pope. Trump called the comments disgraceful. Specifically, Trump felt that as a religious leader, the Pope had no grounds for claiming that Trump is not a Christian. Since that time, Trump has backed away from the heat of an argument. He responded to Anderson Cooper about the remarks by saying that the comments may have been softer than the news media had reported. He even made the claims that he liked the Pope and complimented the Pope's work. Here is where I need to step in. As I read it, Donald ...

I am interrupting my string of game notes from Dungeons and Dragons to write something that seems to be relevant to a broader cultural issue. This week there is has been a couple of public incidents where apologies were issued. Joy Behar on The View, made comments about Miss America contestant, and nurse, Kelley Johnson. The next couple of days were filled with the retractions, re-framing, and re-positioning necessary to smooth the waters. Stephen Amell (currently one of my favorite actors on television), made a comment that was leaped upon by his social media followers. His response was to vacate his very active social media presence for a time. Ahmed Mohammed, a 14 year old high school student, made a clock from scratch and took it to school. The school misunderstood it's nature and declared a bomb threat. He was removed from class, detained in a room, interrogated without representation or parental presence, and branded as a terrorist. This got nation-wide media attention...

Part One: Religious Freedom In the Midst of the Culture Wars Part Two: Culture Wars...and Politicians and the Media Part Three: Onward Christian Soldiers... Before I begin this post, let me lay out my biases first. I am an Evangelical (putting much authority on what Scripture says). I am a traditional Wesleyan Methodist (I gain my theological perspective from the theology of John Wesley and the Methodist movement of the 18th century). I believe in the Church's creedal statements from the middle of the first millennium.  That means I look at the world through a biblical, orthodox, Wesleyan lens. I also have some confessions to make. I struggle with the issue of same-sex marriage. I don't like weddings, period. I don't feel that gays deserve any more special treatment (positive or negative) than any other citizen of the United States. I do not judge another person's sins as greater than mine and I try not to let those sins diminish that person as a human being. Some...

Part one of the series: Religious freedom in the midst of the Culture Wars Part two of the series: Culture Wars....and the politicians and media. I have been a Christian since I was 7 or 8. I remember my first experience of accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I remember sitting in church and Sunday School listening to the lessons of what the Bible says and is about. I remember reading the Bible, finding its messages for myself. And in all of that, I came to believe the Bible to be an authority in my life. Its words I have allowed to speak into my life. I make the best attempt possible to transform those words into a lifestyle. I don't make the best example of what the scriptures say at all times of my life. I am called to account for bad choices and I hold myself to account for bad choices.    And to those Christians who have chosen to represent the Church in a stance against gays, I want to hold you to account for your choices.   Let me begin with a point...